The Ducks kicked the ball around on Saturday, committing four errors and a series of other blunders as their Big Ten Tournament run came to an end with a 7-3 loss to Nebraska.
“We didn’t play good defense today,” Oregon head coach Mark Wasikowski said. “That’s always been a staple of our program and we usually rally around our defense to create positive momentum, and we weren’t able to do that.”
No.4-ranked and top-seeded Oregon (42-14) had to overcome No. 8-seeded Nebraska (30-27), a rowdy Huskers’ home crowd and Lady Luck on Saturday, but weren’t able to escape victorious.
Both teams took down Michigan State in pool play to set up a Pool A championship game. A rainy Friday night in Omaha pushed the contest into Saturday and served both squads an early morning.
“Obviously, I didn’t do a good enough job getting them reset and ready to go for today,” Wasikowski said.
Nebraska’s Gabe Swansen wasn’t fazed. He took Grayson Grinsell deep to left field in the top of the first to hand Nebraska an early 2-0 lead. It didn’t get any better in the second. A fielding error from Jacob Walsh — the Ducks’ second in as many innings — led to an RBI double from Hogan Helligso to plate an unearned run and deepen Oregon’s early hole.
The offense recorded its first two hits in the bottom of the second, back-to-back knocks from Anson Aroz and Maddox Molony that put the Ducks on the board. That would be the extent of Oregon’s scoring until the ninth.
Oregon’s bad luck continued in the third as Walsh grounded into a 1-6-3 double play to eliminate a golden scoring opportunity with runners on the corners and only one out. It felt that very little went Oregon’s way in the loss, it’s first since May 2.
Another misplayed ball, this one from Drew Smith in right field, gave the Huskers a man in scoring position in the fourth. Riley Silva picked up an RBI with a two-out single as the cards continued to fall Nebraska’s way. Another double-play ball killed Oregon’s rally hopes again in the bottom of the frame.
Back-to-back hits and a throwing error from Aroz set Nebraska up with two in scoring position with nobody out in the fifth, giving way to a two-run inning from the Huskers’ offense that put the Ducks’ Big Ten Tournament hopes on life support.
The Ducks needed another great outing for Grinsell, who had been a rock for them during conference play, but he only lasted four innings. He allowed six runs (four earned) on eight hits while fanning six. He earned just his third loss of the season on Saturday.
“They did a nice job with two strikes,” Wasikowski said. “I don’t think Grayson did a fantastic job executing some of his pitches with two strikes, but any time you’re asking any pitcher to (get) four (or) five outs in an inning, that’s not success.”
Every tipped ball, interference call, bad read on a ball or funky hop went Nebraska’s way on Saturday morning. It didn’t help that Oregon finished the Big Ten Tournament without a homer, but it felt like it didn’t matter what the Ducks did against Nebraska. Oregon actually outhit the Huskers 12-11, but hit into three double plays to kill any sort of momentum in three different frames.
The Ducks were able to do very little against Nebraska lefty Jackson Brockett. The Huskers’ ace worked out of jam after jam, limiting the Ducks to a run on six hits across his stellar 6.0 innings of work.
“He threw the ball over the plate,” Wasikowski said. “We hit some balls on the nose at some people. I thought we gave away some at-bats as well, and so, there’s probably something that he was doing that was adding to that or leading to that. He pitched a heck of a game. He got a standing ovation on the way out. I thought the people in Omaha and the people wearing red today congratulated their player as they should have. He did a nice job.”
Ryan Featherston worked four innings of one-run, three-hit ball in the loss. His outing kept Nebraska’s offense at bay aside from an RBI single from Cayden Brumbaugh, but Oregon’s offense was never able to crawl back into the game.
“I thought there were some moments that were really good in the game, just like most games, there’s always some positives that you can reflect on,” Wasikowski said.
The Ducks’ ninth-inning rally came too late. An RBI double from Carter Garate and a sac-fly from Mason Neville brought a pair of runners home, but Walsh lined out to right to end their tournament run.
The Ducks will have to wait until Monday to learn their NCAA Tournament fate. It’s unlikely that Oregon will be a national seed after going 1-1 in the Big Ten Tournament, but PK Park should still host a Regional for the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
“There’s been enough statements,” Wasikowski said. “I’m not going to go off on a tangent right now. This team is loaded. They’re really good. They got a chance to win a national championship and I think the committee and all the polls and everybody in the game knows that.”
Oregon’s resume is pretty good with a Big Ten regular season title, sweeps over Oregon State, USC, Washington and Iowa and a 9-1 record in Quad 1 games. We’ll see if that’s good enough for the committee on Monday.
